The Foreign Ministry has provided for a 4-million-euro financing to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) from the Africa Fund of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) to fund actions to protect migrant minors and refugees in Libya and to combat the deep-set causes of the migration of unaccompanied minors from Gambia.
The project to be implemented in Libya called “Protection of vulnerable children in Libya including host communities, migrant and refugee children”, envisages the creation of ad hoc reception centres along the principal migration routes in which children and their families can receive protection, assistance and basic services and unaccompanied children are given the possibility to reunite with their families or are offered different options in the best interest of the minor.
The project for Gambia, entitled “Protection of children on the move – The Gambia”, is aimed at providing minors greater protection, disseminating correct information on migration-related issues, promoting education and vocational training opportunities and assuring access to basic services to repatriated minors and minors at risk of emigrating unaccompanied.
In 2017, most of the migrant minors disembarked on the Italian coasts unaccompanied. Minors travelling alone represent a category of migrants at greater risk of falling prey to being traded, trafficked, exploited and all sorts of abuse. UNICEF contributes to meets the need to protect the most vulnerable individuals by offering them alternative options to migrating in their Countries of origin and in protected reception centres in the Countries of transit.
